By MICHAEL CHAWE

More by this Author

Zambia’s main opposition has expressed concerns over the government's proposal to introduce tough new cybercrime laws saying the intent is to clampdown on social media.

Lawmakers from the United Party for National Development (UPND) say the new laws would stifle freedom of expression and silence dissent.

“The government is targeting social media because its the only platform that people can use without fear of being attacked by ruling party supporters unlike public media,” said Choma Central MP, Cornelius Mweetwa.

The government says that the new laws, yet to be drafted for debate by parliament, would regulate social media use, curb hate speech, fight cyber-crime and pornography.

Patricia Mwashingwele, MP for Katuba Constituency, said the Public Order Act has compelled people to embrace social media as the only platform for free speech.

Zambezi East Constituency MP Brian Kambita said it was unfortunate for government to use the law to punish a majority rather than a few abusing social media.

However, in a parliamentary session on Thursday, Transport and Communications Minister Brian Mushimba said the laws were not meant to curtail free speech as government was only targeting to deal with scammers and hate mongers on platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.

"My ministry is proposing to enact three pieces of legislation -- the cyber security and cyber-crime act, the data protection act, and the electronic transactions and electronic commerce act -- that will promote responsible use of digital platforms and safeguard users of electronic platforms which include social media from unscrupulous users that mean harm," he said.

Civil rights groups in the country have also condemned the move.